Lake Wendouree Last Winter

Restrictions have been eased here a bit this week, with "outdoor recreation" now allowed - yay! But I haven't quite made it out birding again yet, so instead I'm gonna go all the way back to August last year for this post.

I was in Ballarat for the day and went to check out the birds at Lake Wendouree. I actually took lot of photos on this little outing but never got around to posting anything, so here we go!

some fun facts to get started

Ballarat is a town about an hour and a half from Melbourne, out west, and Lake Wendouree is a large artificial lake within the town's suburbs. It's surrounded by some parkland and a walking/running track.

I ran into some Black Swans in the side street before I even got to the lake

I started my circuit on the southern side of the lake near the yacht club where I straightaway found plenty of birds: Little Pied Cormorants and Welcome Swallows perched on the boathouses, ducks and Eurasian Coots in the water, as well as Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos flying over.

boathouse view

Welcome Swallow

male Australian Wood Duck

also, raptor sp.

There is not much distance between the shore and the roads around the lake, and it's a very popular place with walkers, runners and bike-riders but the birds seem pretty used to all this and so were pretty relaxed about people.

Magpie-lark on the shore

a Masked Lapwing, who of course had a buddy not far away

one of the many Little Pied Cormorants

Black Swan and Eurasian Coots

more swans and more coots

A small wetland area in the south-west corner of the lake wasn't very productive for birds but I did hear a Little Grassbird in there somewhere and a couple of Crimson Rosellas flew by here.

the wetland, with a bit more vegetation

There was also a very well-placed sign on the road nearby.

or maybe a very well-place swan

A bit further on I spotted some familiar triangle-headed silhouettes out on the lake.

Freckled Ducks!

coot + buoy + Australia's rarest waterfowl combo

Continuing up the western shore there were a few more smaller wetland sections with wooden bridges and paths which allowed for some close views of many more birds.

a bit more natural-looking?

Australasian Swamphen

Great Cormorant

a Pacific Black Duck and some domestic friends

There was also an island out in the lake where a huge number of Australian White Ibis were building nests.

the ibis island

one of the few not flying to and fro with nesting material

just stopping for a preen maybe?

it also got a bit muddy through here...

Around the halfway point of the 6km circuit, I finally added Musk Ducks to the list. I'd seen posts on Facebook about Musk Ducks here so I hoped I'd see some. (I'd also seen posts about Rakali at the lake, but wasn't so lucky with them.)

Musk Duck

apparently not a true "diving duck", but they do dive

A Swamp Harrier I'd seen low out over the lake finally cruised in much closer for nice views. Two Whistling Kites were the only other raptors for the day.

Swamp Harrier

I didn't think you could swim in the lake but there were several of these diving board-type structures in the north-east corner.

a Little Pied Cormorant was enjoying one anyway

I think on the last part of the circuit, along the eastern shore, I only managed to add a lone Yellow-rumped Thornbill to the list of species I'd already seen.

It took me nearly three hours to get around the whole of Lake Wendouree but it was an easy walk with some relaxed, easy birding. I ended up with a pretty good total of 35 species and, despite Ballarat's reputation for being a bit chilly, enjoyed nice winter sunshine the whole time!